The Spaces Between Intents
by WickedGame
Summary: AU. What if Rizzo really was a defective typewriter? Written for Yuletide 2007.


Title: The Spaces Between Intents 

Author: WickedGame

Genre: drama, fluff

Pairing: Rizzo/Kenickie

Rating: G

Warnings:

Notes: Written for Yuletide 2007

She stared at the doctor, knowing that what he said was true but still not believing it. She was in high school! She couldn't be…

"You gotta be kidding, Doc. A baby?" Rizzo scoffed and kicked her feet back and forth as she sat on the examination table. "I ain't got time for a baby!"

It was true: she didn't have time for a baby. She had plans, big plans, and none of them involved getting knocked up by her sometimes-boyfriend. One stupid night, and too much booze and look where it had gotten her.

"Like it or not, Miss Rizzo, you are pregnant. Now, I do know of some nice homes for young women in your situation that I can recommend to your mother and father…"

The words 'situation', 'homes', along with the mentioning of her mother and father quickly had Rizzo shaking her head, clearing out the shock. She'd heard about those homes, and how those girls never even got to hold their children before they were swept away. She may be down, but she'd be damned if she was going to be shut away for nine months and then have the child inside of her ripped from her hands.

"Thanks but no thanks, Doc. I can take care of myself," Rizzo was quick to get up and throw her pink jacket back on at the mention of the words 'parents' and 'situation'. Situation be damned, no one was going to tell her how to deal with a baby. Like it or not, she was in deep shit and would need to find her own way out.

Rizzo could hear him as he shouted up at her, but she didn't know what to say in response. He knew from that night at the drive-in that she was pregnant, but they hadn't seen much of each other since that night and she wasn't sure she wanted to hear what he had to say.

"Rizzo! Hey, Rizzo! Get off of that thing in your condition!"

She didn't see why she couldn't ride something as mundane as a damned ferris wheel. His concern was sweet but why the hell was he even worried? He hadn't been around and he hadn't even asked about her when he was around her friends. She didn't want to confront him here but the ride was over anyway, and so she stepped off and faced the father of her child.

Kenickie leaned in and kissed her, despite the fact that they had broken up weeks ago. "I'll make an honest woman out of you."

"Listen, fella, if this is a line, I ain't biting," Rizzo shoved him away and headed toward the cotton candy, intent on fulfilling a sudden craving for something sticky and pink. Those were the last words she had thought she'd hear from his lips but they made her warm inside, and made her hope he might actually care enough to stick by her through all the months to come.

Kenickie pulled on her arm and hugged her from behind. "That's a bona fide offer."

Rizzo shrugged and smiled. Kenickie really was sweet when he put his mind to it. "Well, it ain't moonlight and roses, but..."

Rizzo didn't have the best mom and dad, but they had been together since before she was born. Her mother had always told her that you marry the father of your children and love him no matter how much drinking and philandering he does. Rizzo heard her mother's words in her head when she agreed to marry Kenickie, straight out of high school.

Everyone was there for the wedding, even Danny and Sandy. Rizzo wore a red dress as she and Kenickie stood in front of the Justice of the Peace and before she was even showing, she was Mrs. Betty Kenickie.

Rizzo had never been in so much pain. It was bursting, blinding, pressing pain. The only thing that felt good was to push, and so push she did, pushed as hard as possible until the doctor yelled at her to stop pushing or else she was going to tear herself.

Kenickie was next to her, holding her hand and grimacing as she gripped it tightly, looking as scared as Rizzo felt when the doctor told her the baby had crowned and now she was going to push one last time to get the shoulders out. She pushed, concentrating hard as she could on getting the baby out, and then there was crying.

"Is that my baby?" she asked, her voice unexpectedly tender.

The doctor ignored her and the nurse smiled. "He's a loud one," she commented.

Rizzo smiled at her husband and started to cry. "Just like his mom!"

The nurses weighed, measured, tested, and wiped the baby down before handing him to Rizzo, wrapped in a blanket.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk to an adoption agent? You're so young to be having a baby!"

Rizzo thought that she might bite the nurse's fingers off. "No one else is getting their hands on my baby."

"Our baby," Kenickie corrected, even as he swallowed hard.

The nurse only shook her head and walked away, leaving the small family alone for a moment.

"He has your nose!" Kenickie commented excitedly.

"Yeah, well, he's gonna have your big mouth, I can almost guarantee it," Rizzo said roughly before giving Kenickie a quick kiss.

Frenchie gave baby James his first hair cut. He cried the entire time and afterwards his hair looked like someone had put a bowl on top of his head and used it as a cutting guideline.

Jan showed him how to dance, her frenetic movements and childlike mannerisms causing James to laugh and jump up and down. She even showed him how to do the swim, and then laughed as he tried to actually do the swim inside his paddling pool, with little to no success.

Marty refused to have anything to do with the child, sneering at him but then smiling tenderly when she thought no one was looking. She often said she hated children and didn't ever want to have any but the gleam in her eye told Rizzo different and she never hesitated to point that fact out. Marty would just roll her eyes and flick her cigarette into an ashtray with an attitude that was hard to match.

Sandy sang to him every time she came over. Her sweet voice never failed to lull James to sleep and Rizzo was always grateful for Sandy's gentle demeanor, even if she didn't say so. The pair had become fast friends after high school, with Sandy often taking the initiative to invite Rizzo out for drinks or to just go for a drive out to the beach. Of all the people Rizzo was friends with it seemed that Sandy just understood her best.

Everyone loved Rizzo and Kenickie's baby, even if her own mother and father largely ignored their grandchild. They made their own family, in their own way, with friends tried and true making up the core. It was a small circle but a loyal one and Rizzo counted herself lucky indeed.

Rizzo looked back and thought about everything she had gone through in her life, and thought about that scary night when she had suspected she was just like a defective typewriter. That fear was nothing compared to the fear that hit her when James shoved a penny up his nose or when he ate leaves off the sidewalk.

And yet…she wouldn't trade any of those moments for anything in the world. She didn't think she truly would trade any of it. Not really.

-The End-


End file.
